U.S. Department
of Justice
Division Heads
Chief of Civil Division
David Harris
David Harris is the Chief of the Civil Division. Mr. Harris is a graduate of UCLA and USC Law School. He joined the Office in the Civil Fraud Section in 2008 after spending almost 20 years in private practice where, as an equity partner, he obtained extensive management experience and handled a wide variety of civil matters. As part of that practice, Mr. Harris tried 9 civil matters. He gained additional management experience as the Deputy Chief of the Civil Fraud Section, and as Civil Healthcare Fraud Coordinator where he served for 3 years. As Civil Healthcare Fraud Coordinator, Mr. Harris brought a real appreciation for the ways in which technology and data can improve our ability to work our cases. He has had tremendous success in his Civil Fraud cases, and during his tenure as Civil Fraud Deputy Chief and Civil Healthcare Fraud Coordinator, the Civil Fraud Section collectively recovered in excess of $300 million and has saved taxpayers millions of dollars more through proactive enforcement efforts.
Chief of Criminal Division
Mack E. Jenkins
Mack Jenkins joined the Office in 2008. He was previously Chief of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section since 2017, where also served as Deputy Chief. During his career as a prosecutor, he has handled numerous high-profile investigations and trials. Most recently, he has been the lead prosecutor in the sprawling public corruption investigation targeting Los Angeles City Hall that led to the District’s first racketeering conviction against an LA elected official (Jose Huizar) along with nine other corruption related convictions of public officials, wealthy developers, and companies. In another trial, Mr. Jenkins was the lead prosecutor in the first federal jury conviction nationwide of a sitting U.S. Congressman (Jeff Fortenberry) in several decades. Recently, Mr. Jenkins oversaw another major multi-year corruption investigation into the nation’s largest utility, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, and the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office related to a collusive lawsuit stemming from the LADWP overbilling scandal, along with bribery and extortion by powerful lawyers and top-level City officials. Mr. Jenkins also successfully prosecuted former members of a California political dynasty, Ron and Tom Calderon, for bribery and money laundering after a multi-month wiretap investigation into the then state senator. In 2014, Mr. Jenkins charged a 72-defendant RICO case against the Broadway Gangster Crips, which was then the largest indictment in the District. Mr. Jenkins has completed over 17 federal jury trials, including six RICO trials, multiple VICAR murder cases, plus corruption, civil rights, continuing criminal enterprise, and obstruction matters. Mr. Jenkins has received the Attorney General’s Award, the EOUSA Director’s Award, has twice received the California Lawyer of the Year Award, along with the Federal Bar Association’s Pete Mazza Outstanding Federal Lawyer Award, the Anti-Defamation League’s Combating Hate Award, and been named a Top 100 Lawyer by the Daily Journal. Mr. Jenkins was a founding member of the Substance Abuse and Re-Entry Court, co-chair of the Equality Working Group, and is a member of the Diversity, Hiring, and Training Committees. Mr. Jenkins received his J.D. from Yale Law School and his undergraduate degree from UCLA.
Chief of Tax Division
Thomas Coker
Thomas Coker graduated with honors from John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Illinois, after receiving a Master’s in Business Education from DePaul University. Upon graduating from law school, Mr. Coker was hired by the U.S. Department of Treasury, IRS, under the Honors Program. From 1985 to 1988, Mr. Coker was a trial attorney with the IRS Office of Chief Counsel in Los Angeles. During that time, he successfully represented the government in the United States Tax Court in numerous cases including, Vallone v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, McKay v. C.I.R., Clausman v. Commissioner, and Finkelman v. Commissioner. In 1988, Mr. Coker joined the Tax Division of this office. Prior to being appointed Chief, Mr. Coker was the Deputy Chief for Civil and Bankruptcy matters in the Tax Division.
In his tenure in the office, Mr. Coker has successfully litigated a wide variety of civil and bankruptcy tax matters, which have resulted in significant published appellate decisions, including Andersen v. United States, 298 F.3d 804 (9th Cir. 2002); PCCE, Inc. v. United States, 159 F.3d 425 (9th Cir. 1998); Han v. United States, 944 F.2d 526 (9th Cir. 1991); Fidelity National Title Insurance Co., 907 F.2d 868 (9th Cir. 1990); and In re Sun World Intern., Inc., 17 B.R. 281 (C.D.Cal.,1998), as well as the successful defense a matter of first impression involving a $5 million tax refund claim in a qui tam action under the False Claims Act in Alderson v. United States, 686 F.3d 791 (9th Cir. 2012). Most recently, in another civil case of first impression in the Ninth Circuit, Mr. Coker obtained a decision affirming a $3.5 million jeopardy assessment issued by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) of the Department of Treasury against Starbuzz Tobacco, a manufacturer of tobacco products. Mr. Coker has also litigated a number of significant criminal tax cases, including convictions of Motown greats Norman Whitfield and Ronald Isley, and the successful defense of the issue of a district court’s jurisdiction of fugitive status while on probation in United States v. Grant, 727 F.3d 928 (9th Cir. 2013).
Chief of National Security Division
Annamartine Salick